Burgers Ya Heard: New Orleans food truck guide

After a dozen years cooking in restaurants, including Rambla, Meauxbar and Vincent's, John Tew needed a change.

"The kitchen life," he said, "it beats you down after a long time."

So now instead of working a hot line he battles blazes for the Jefferson Parish Fire Department. But on his off days, you'll still find Tew cooking inside his Burgers Ya Heard food truck.

On the rig, a former Bunny Bread delivery van, he builds quarter-pound burgers on buns from Angelo's Bakery in Metairie. The basic Tra-Dish comes with homemade bread and butter pickles. The Triple B, a riff on a salad from his days at Meauxbar, has a thick slicked beet below the patty and above strips of bacon and a pungent blue cheese. The Pho BurGer gets topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, jalapeños and a sauce of reduced pho broth that multiplies the burger's meatiness.

The more outlandish burgers taste like fully conceived dishes rather than just patties crowned with a hodgepodge of topping. You can tell that Tew has restaurant experience. So far, though, the Tra-Dish has been the best seller. Tew understands why customers gravitate toward his basic hamburger.